The coordinator of the campaign "Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections" Uladzimir Labkovich appealed to the Central Election Commission and the Prosecutor's Office with a complaint about a violation of the laws of the Republic of Belarus.

The reason for the appeal is Resolution №18 of the Board of the National state the public association "Belarusian Society of Hunters and Fishermen" of July 21, 2015, published in the specialized newspaper "Paliaŭničy i Rybaloŭ" in August 2015.

"The Board of BSHF rules:

1) to support the nomination of the incumbent president Aliaksandr Lukashenka for the post of President of the Republic of Belarus for a new term in the upcoming elections, held on October 11, 2015;

2) to encourage the chairmen of the regional organizational structures of BSHF to inform all workers of regional and district organizational structures of the procedure for submitting signatures for the candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus", reads the document.

The human rights activist believes that these requirements violate several articles of the electoral law. For example, Part 2 of Art. 73 of the Electoral Code states that a presidential candidate is not entitled to take advantage of his official position in the interests of the election. According to the Code, taking advantage of official position includes the involvement of the people who are in the state of subordination or other service dependency for activities promoting nomination and (or) election during their working time.

In this case, such support is accompanied with the service dependence of the organization directly on the President of the Republic of Belarus.

Moreover, the very Resolution aims to support only one candidate for president, which is a violation of part 10 of Art. 61 of the Electoral Code, which states that "the nvolvement of the administration of the organization in collecting signatures, as well as coercion or rewarding voters in the process of collecting signatures are not allowed".

In addition, the Board of the National Council of BSHF also violate the law "On national public associations", as it by adopting such a resolution it has gone beyond the scope of its objectives, tasks and powers enshrined in the law and in the Charter of the organization.

Therefore Uladzimir Labkovich asks the Central Election Commission to oblige BSHF to take measures to eliminate violations of the electoral legislation of the Republic of Belarus. He also asks the prosecutor's office to take action of prosecutorial response on the basis of Art. 13 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On national public associations" regarding the vioatin of the law, committed by the organization.